Camping Trip
by Belle Walker
Summary: The CSIs go camping. It's dreadful, but it was one of my first fanfics. Originally written 2003.


Sara rolled over, her elbow hitting something soft.

"Oomph," Grissom answered.

"Sorry," Sara apologized. She stretched out on her back, folding her arms behind her head.

"Do you _always_ roll around this much?" Grissom mumbled sleepily.

"Only when I can't sleep." Sara wiggled around, trying to get comfortable. She accidentally jostled Grissom again.

Grissom sighed and rolled over onto his back. He folded his arms behind his head like Sara had done, and gazed up at the stars.

"Whose idea was this, anyway?" Sara asked, rolling onto her side to face Grissom and propping herself up on one elbow. "This boulder-infested ground is awful. And we don't even have a _tent_."

Grissom turned his head and looked into Sara's wide-awake brown eyes. "I think it was Warrick's idea," he said.

"Really? I was sure it was Nick's idea."

With a smile, Grissom said, "Go to sleep, Sara."

"You know, I would if I could," Sara began as she laid on her back once more.

"But you can't, so you won't," Grissom finished with a grin. "I know."

"Why did I let you talk me into this, anyway?" Sara grumbled.

"Because you love camping."

"Oh. Yeah. Forgot." Sara wiggled around some more. "Can this ground _possibly_ get any harder?" she complained.

"Don't you two ever _sleep?"_ Nick hollered over the sounds of crickets chirping.

"Not when they're together, they don't," Catherine replied, sounding irritated.

Warrick snickered. "Got that right."

Sara shot them each a glare in the darkness. "Ow!" She sat up, hauling half of her sleeping bag up with her. She felt around on the ground. Finding the sharp rock that assaulted her ribs, she tossed it away.

Grissom laughed at her as she flopped back down and wiggled around some more.

Sara glared at him too. "And I suppose the ground underneath _you_ is smooth as silk."

"Nope. It's bumpy over here too," Grissom answered. "I just don't complain about it like you do."

"Hmmph." Sara was still for a few moments. Then she nudged Grissom in the side. "Scoot over."

"What?"

"Scoot. I can't sleep on this." Sara playfully poked at Grissom's ribs until he relented.

"Oh, fine." Grissom moved over just a few inches.

Sara quickly occupied those few inches of ground space and stretched out against him.

Grissom closed his eyes, hoping Sara would do the same and finally fall asleep.

Sara settled down in her sleeping bag. "Liar," she accused Grissom.

"Liar?" Grissom repeated. He raised himself up on one elbow and peered down at Sara. "What makes me a liar?" he demanded.

"It's comfy over here." Sara grinned up at him. "You said it wasn't."

"It's only "comfy" because you're practically on top of me," Grissom answered, laying back down.

Catherine gave a loud, amused snort.

Warrick burst out laughing.

Nick grumbled. "Can't a guy get some _sleep? !"_

"Hey, is it my fault you make a nice pillow?" Sara said with a grin.

"It's your fault you're using me for a pillow," Grissom countered smoothly.

"Oh, would you rather be a mattress?" Sara raised her head and looked at Grissom.

"Do I need to go over there and separate you two?" Catherine asked with a snicker.

"No!" Sara and Grissom answered together.

"Then quit flirting and to go sleep!" Warrick shouted with a laugh.

Grissom chuckled and rolled onto his side to face Sara. "Turn over."

"What?"

"Turn over," he repeated. "Onto your side."

Sara rolled over and faced Grissom.

"No, your other side."

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it, Sara."

Sara rolled onto her other side, so her back was to him. "Why, Grissom?"

"Because you'll be a lot more comfortable if you do," Grissom replied. He scooted closer to Sara and slipped his arms around her waist from behind. His breath was warm on her neck as his chin rested on her shoulder.

Sara smiled to herself. Grissom's arms were strong but gentle, and they felt very nice around her waist. Sara gave in fully to his embrace. "Hey, you're right. This _is_ better."

"Told you," he whispered into her ear. "Goodnight."

"Night."

* * *

Warrick awoke with a stiff body, resulting from sleeping in an odd position on lumpy ground. He stood and stretched. As he did so, his eyes drifted across the campsite and spotted two of his colleagues wrapped up in each other.

Literally.

Grissom was lying on his back inside his sleeping bag.

Sara was stretched out on her stomach halfway on top of him, in her own sleeping bag.

Grissom's arm, in a blue flannel sleeve, was wrapped tightly around Sara's back.

Sara's arm, in a red flannel sleeve, was draped across Grissom's chest.

Warrick shook Catherine until she woke up. He pointed in the direction of Grissom and Sara.

"Aha," she said with a gleam in her eye. "So _that's_ what they were doing last night."

Catherine woke Nick, who took in the sight before him with curious eyes.

"Aww," Nick said. "Isn't that cute."

"Oooh. Nick, gimme your camera," Catherine said suddenly.

"What for?" Nick asked, handing over a small disposable camera.

Catherine snapped off several quick shots with an evil grin. "Blackmail."

* * *

Sara awoke to the smell of camp coffee. She tried to get up, but something was holding her down. She lifted her head and craned her neck, discovering that she was pinned between Grissom and his arm. She tried to scoot out of his grasp without waking him up.

Grissom's first thought was that he was back in California , experiencing a mild earthquake. Upon opening his eyes, however, he realized that the shaking was a result of Sara trying to carefully free herself.

"There you go, rolling around again," he said to her with a smile.

Sara smirked. "Yes. And despite my wonderfully comfortable Grissom Mattress, I need to get up. I hear coffee calling my name."

Grissom moved his arm, allowing Sara to get up. Rolling over onto his side, he propped himself up on one elbow and watched her.

Sara kicked off her sleeping bag and sat in the middle of it, pulling her hiking boots on over bare feet. She didn't bother tying the laces. She rummaged around in her backpack until she found her hairbrush, and talked to Grissom as she brushed her hair.

"I heard there are some very unique insect species on this campground."

That caught Grissom's attention. His eyes narrowed as he studied her face. "Nuh-uh," he said, disbelievingly.

Sara laughed. "Would I lie to you? About bugs, I mean?"

"Well, I hope you wouldn't lie to me about anything. Bugs or otherwise," Grissom replied.

Sara gave him an oh-so-innocent smile and crossed the campsite to get some coffee. Catherine, Nick and Warrick were absent from the site. Sara idly wondered where they were. She didn't wonder long, because as she sipped her coffee, the three of them approached the camp.

They must have changed clothes already. They were wearing different clothes than yesterday, and all three of them were carrying their backpacks.

"Modernized outhouses are that way. They have showers and sinks," Catherine said, jerking her thumb behind her.

"They have a gift shop that way, too," Warrick added. "All the way out here. People can't even go camping without being harassed to buy stuff."

Nick gave Warrick a grin and said, "You're just mad because they didn't have baseball caps."

"Shut up," Warrick returned good-naturedly. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down on a short tree log that served as a bench.

Grabbing a cup of her own, Catherine sat next to Sara on the other mossy log, across the campfire from Warrick. "You look like you slept well," she said to Sara. "I had wondered when you were gonna get out of Grissom's sleeping bag."

Sara gaped at Catherine. "I was _not_ in Grissom's sleeping bag!"

Catherine tossed her a grin. "Might as well have been."

"Could have fooled me," Warrick added with a smirk.

Ever the gentleman, Nick came to Sara's defense. "Even if she was, I think that's her own business."

Sara tossed her hair lightly. "Thank you, Nicky. At least _someone_ here has manners."

"Ooooh, cranky," Catherine smirked.

"I think she woke up on the wrong side of Grissom," Warrick mumbled to Nick.

"I heard that!"

Warrick and Catherine simply grinned at her.

Nick wisely kept his mouth shut.

Sara finished her coffee in silence, then picked up her backpack and went in search of the "modernized outhouse" Catherine had mentioned earlier.

Grissom watched her leave the campsite in a huff, as he shoved his feet into his own hiking boots. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to Nick on the log bench. "What did you guys do to Sara?" he asked suspiciously.

Three innocent faces looked at him. "We didn't do a thing," Catherine immediately denied.

Grissom regarded her warily. "Hmm."

"What, you don't believe us?" Nick asked with mock hurt.

Grissom shook his head, then took a sip of coffee. "No. I don't." Grissom said no more. He sipped his coffee in silence.

Sara came back to camp a while later. She had showered and put on her favorite camping clothes: cut-off jeans shorts, white tank top, and red flannel shirt. Clean socks and laced-up hiking boots encased her feet.

Sara seemed to be in a much better mood. She smiled pleasantly at them all and didn't say a word about the earlier teasing.

She picked up her coffee cup from where she had left it on the ground, refilled it, and sat down on the ground between Grissom's knees.

Grissom was a little surprised at where Sara chose to sit. It didn't bother him in the least though. What _did_ bother him was the smug look on her face.

He knew that look. That was Sara's patented "You Better Watch Your Back, Cause I'm Gonna Get You" look.

Grissom knew that particular expression because Sara had pulled a few good practical jokes on _him_ a time or two in the past. He wondered what she was scheming now...

Almost forgetting that there were three people watching them, he leaned forward a little and tucked a damp lock of Sara's hair behind her ear. His fingertips brushed against the back of her neck.

Nick, Warrick, and Catherine observed this with raised eyebrows. They had, at the very least, expected Sara to give Grissom a "look".

But the only look she gave him was a small, private smile. "Who's up for a hike after breakfast?" Sara asked everyone.

"Ooh! Me!" Warrick immediately said.

"A hike sounds good to me," Grissom answered.

"Good," Sara said happily. "Catherine?"

"You bet."

Four pairs of eyes turned expectantly to Nick.

"Yeah, sure," he said quickly when he realized they were staring at him.

Sara turned to Catherine. "I hope you brought a bathing suit. There's supposed to be a very nice lake at the end of the trail."

"I'm wearing it right now," Catherine answered, with a sideways glance at Warrick.

Grissom's fingers gently caressed the back of Sara's neck, absently playing with the damp curls. He finished off another cup of coffee, then rose to find the restrooms and change into fresh clothes.

* * *

They followed the trail for about an hour, constantly stopping so Grissom could capture a bug and add it to yet another small specimen jar.

Catherine thought Grissom's behavior was weird.

Warrick thought it was kind of embarrassing.

Nick thought it was funny.

Sara thought it was cute.

Grissom thought Sara was cute, but he kept that comment to himself.

They finally arrived at the lake. Many other campers were also swimming, but there was plenty of lake to go around.

There were two small huts among the trees where people could change into their bathing attire.

The girls took the hut on the left, and the guys took the hut on the right.

Sara and Catherine waited for the guys to come out, then they quickly joined the small crowd in the water.

The five of them swam together for a while, then each went in their own direction.

Nick and Warrick took turns trying to drown each other.

Catherine rolled her eyes at their childishness, but joined them anyway.

One of the other campers had taken an interest in Sara.

Grissom watched with narrowed eyes as the handsome young man charmed his way into a conversation with her.

Sara was smiling somewhat flirtatiously as she conversed with Mark. She wasn't honestly interested in him. She just wanted her colleagues (Grissom in particular) to realize that men _do _notice her.

"I think your boyfriend is jealous," Mark said to Sara.

"What?" Sara turned to look where Mark was looking.

Grissom had a not-very-pleased look on his face.

"He's not my boyfriend," Sara corrected.

Mark studied Sara's face. "I don't believe you," he finally said with a grin. "The only time someone gives me that look is when they're the jealous boyfriend." He added, "My girlfriend over there is giving you the same look."

Sara looked over to where Mark pointed.

A pretty redhead was glaring at her from across the lake.

An idea came to Sara's mind. "Well, I don't want to get you in trouble with your girlfriend, but I think I could have a little fun with this."

"Uh oh," Mark said in very slight apprehension. "You're not gonna do anything to me or Suzie, are you?"

Sara laughed. "No! Never. But I could just kind of ...I don't know...string Grissom along. Make him think he has some competition."

"Hey, that does work," Mark agreed. "In fact, it worked quite well for my brother."

"Oh?" Sara asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what happened with your brother?"

Mark wiped a few trickles of lake water off his forehead. "Well, I sort of interfered with the relationship between him and his girlfriend. Made him think twice about what he was taking for granted. Let's just say that his insecurity drove him to propose to her _a lot_ sooner than he had originally planned."

"Hey, what are brothers for," Sara said with a grin.

Mark tilted his head in thought as he looked at Sara. "You like him a lot, don't you?" he said in reference to Grissom.

Sara didn't answer, just looked away with a shy grin.

Mark laughed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Sara nodded.

"So why are you swimming with me?" Mark demanded with knowing smile. "Go swim with him," he urged.

Sara smiled widely at him. "You know, I probably should." She looked past his shoulder at the girl making her way towards them. "Cause here comes your girlfriend, and I don't have a death wish."

Mark laughed. He reached out and gave Sara's cheek a playful pat. "Hey, it was a pleasure meeting you, Sara."

"It was nice talking to you," Sara responded sincerely.

Sara met up with Grissom.

"Who was that?" he asked in a tight voice.

"Mark." Sara turned around and gave him a wave.

Mark waved back.

Suzie glared some more.

Grissom said nothing else, but kept a pout on his face.

Sara swam close and stopped directly in front of Grissom. She cupped his face with her hands. "You're awfully cute when you pout," she said with a wink. She took advantage of his open-mouthed amazement to duck past him and swim to shore.

Sara stood in the sunshine a few minutes, drying off and talking to Catherine. As soon as her sky-blue bikini was dry, Sara pulled her shorts and tank top back on, leaving her flannel shirt on the ground where Catherine was sitting on it.

Grissom swam to shore too, but didn't join Sara. He listened to Warrick and Nick talk about the pretty girls at the lake.

Then Nick mentioned that he saw Sara swimming with some guy.

"Nah!" Warrick said, disbelievingly. "Our Sara? No way."

"Yes way," Nick insisted. "I think she was actually flirting with him!"

Grissom turned and stalked away. He'd already seen Mark with Sara. He didn't need to hear about it too.

He went into the small changing hut, put on dry clothes, and stuffed his swim trunks and towel into his backpack.

* * *

"Here comes Grissom," Catherine said, looking past Sara. "He doesn't look happy. What did you do to him?"

Sara poked her fingers into the back pockets of her shorts. With a grin, she answered, "Nothing really terrible. I just planted a little seed of doubt."

"Doubt? About what?" Catherine asked, perplexed.

"Oh, I made him think I was interested in some guy," Sara said with a shrug of her shoulder. "Just to shake him up a little, you know?"

"You're mean!" Catherine stated with a grin.

"I know."

Grissom approached them silently. He avoided their gazes as he walked past them.

"You okay?" Catherine asked him.

"Fine," he snapped. He sat down on a nearby tree stump with his back to Sara.

Sara, however, had no intention of letting him snub her.

She pretended to completely ignore Grissom as she casually sat down on his tree stump. Her back was to him, but she deliberately sat close enough that her shoulder touched his. She continued talking to Catherine, who was trying so hard not to laugh out loud at Sara's slyness.

Grissom stared straight ahead, away from Sara.

Sara paid no attention. She was listening to Catherine.

And then Sara spoke again.

Grissom focused his eyes on the lake. He was instantly reminded of seeing Sara there in the water, flirting with Mark. So he turned his attention to the trees. He told his ears not to listen to Sara's talking. But as much as he tried to ignore her voice, he couldn't. He found himself turning towards her.

Her voice called out to his ears; her hair called out to his fingertips.

Grissom put his fingers tentatively into Sara's silky hair.

Suddenly, Catherine was talking again. Her voice grated on Grissom's ears.

He tuned Catherine out, and watched as she finished talking to Sara, stood up, and finally left.

Next thing Grissom knew, his right arm was completely around Sara's waist.

He couldn't even begin to explain to himself how his arm had managed to get there.

Sara glanced up at him from the corner of her eye, giving him a sweet smile. She linked her fingers with his, where his hand lay against her stomach, and leaned back against his chest just a little bit.

Grissom wanted to wrap his other arm around Sara too, but not in front of so many people. He settled for resting his chin lightly on her bare left shoulder.

"You trying to make me jealous?" He murmured into her ear.

"Yeah." Sara gave him an honest answer. "I was." She turned her head to look into his eyes. "Did it work?"

Grissom smiled a little and ran his fingers up and down Sara's left arm. "You're a brat, you know that?"

Sara just laughed, pulling Grissom's arm tighter and leaning into him fully.

Catherine, Nick and Warrick watched them with smiles on their faces.

"Looks like your blackmail pictures are worthless," Warrick said to Catherine with a grin.

"Yeah," Catherine agreed, grinning back. "But I can still have some fun with them."

* * *

They had a pleasant walk back to their campsite.

Nick, Catherine and Warrick all walked side by side, talking and laughing. Occasionally, one of them would sneak a peek at the two people behind them.

Grissom and Sara strolled a few paces behind their three colleagues. They alternated between holding hands, linking arms, and hooking their arms around each other's waists.

Grissom felt almost like a love struck teenager. He so desperately wanted to kiss Sara.

He had a theory of how she tasted. Perhaps like cherries. Sara often wore fruit-scented pinkish-red lip gloss, and Grissom had long ago decided that it must be cherry flavored.

Deep down, Grissom was a romantic. He didn't want to rush their first kiss. He wanted the perfect moment to wrap both arms firmly around Sara and give her a kiss that would make her head spin.

Sara wondered if she had any right to be this happy. She felt the undeniable bond between herself and Grissom, but couldn't stop wondering at the back of her mind if this new level of friendship would dissolve as soon as they returned to the real world.

All too soon, they arrived at their campsite.

Sara was reluctant to let go of Grissom's hands, but she needed both of hers in order to eat lunch. Her stomach grumbled about its emptiness.

Warrick hauled the insulated ice chest out of Catherine's SUV. They had all packed their favorite camping foods inside it.

Nick had put hotdogs.

Sara, being a vegetarian, had added a package of meatless 'soy dogs'.

Catherine threw in a container of her special potato salad.

Warrick's contribution was a bag of cheesy tortilla chips.

And Grissom donated some bottles of water.

They gathered more firewood, started a new fire, and roasted their hotdogs (and soy dogs).

The group sat in a half circle around the campfire to eat their food.

Catherine and Warrick sat side by side on the ground, with their backs against one mossy log bench.

Sara sat down between Nick and Grissom, who were perched on top of the log just a few feet away from Warrick and Catherine.

Nick's plate was piled high, mostly with tortilla chips, and Sara stole one when she thought he wasn't looking.

"I saw that," Nick said with a smirk.

Sara matched his smirk with one of her own and chewed the crunchy chip. When her paper plate was empty, she tossed it into the fire.

Everyone else did the same.

Nick tossed his like a Frisbee and it landed neatly on top of the flames.

"Nice shot," Catherine commented.

Grissom was watching Sara.

Sara put her hand into her jeans shorts pocket and covertly pulled something out.

Grissom couldn't see what it was because she kept her fist tight around it.

Sara eyed Catherine, with a mischievous look.

Grissom recognized that look from this morning. He caught her eye and raised an eyebrow.

She smiled and put her finger to her lips. Then she showed Grissom what she held in her hand.

A large, lifelike, rubber tarantula.

Grissom grinned when he realized what Sara was planning on doing with it.

Sara waited until just the right moment. When Catherine's head was turned away, she quickly aimed and tossed.

The tarantula landed squarely on Catherine's knee.

Catherine shrieked. She bolted up from her position on the ground and jumped halfway across the campsite.

The rubber arachnid landed at Warrick's feet.

Warrick jumped back too, until he realized the spider wasn't real. Then he was hooting and laughing. "Man, Cat! You got some cat reflexes there!"

Nick laughed so hard he fell backwards off the log. "What—what _was_ that?" he gasped.

"It's rubber!" Warrick exclaimed. "Cat's afraid of a rubber spider!"

Grissom nearly died with laughter.

Sara was laughing hysterically.

Catherine recovered from her shock and glared at them all. "I'm gonna _kill_ whoever did that!" she growled.

Sara stopped laughing. "Uh, hide me!" She ducked behind Grissom.

"You!" Catherine shouted, pointing a menacing finger at Sara. "You're dead, Miss Sidle!" She grabbed a nearby water bottle and fairly ripped the cap off.

Sara squealed and leapt over Warrick.

Catherine chased her around the campsite twice, wielding her bottle of water like it was a sword.

Sara made a quick detour and hopped over Nick, who was still on the ground.

"Grab her, Nicky!" Catherine hollered.

Nick's hand shot out and closed around one of Sara's ankles.

"Hey!" Sara landed backwards into Grissom's arms. The force of gravity knocked them both to the ground.

Grissom landed on his back with Sara on top.

He was now laughing as hysterically as Sara. His arms locked around her waist, holding her down.

"Ack! Griss! Let me go! _No!_" Sara shrieked and tried to pry his arms away as Catherine doused her with the bottled water.

Grissom got wet too, and tried to use Sara as a shield.

Despite Grissom's firm grasp, Sara managed to get enough leverage to grab another nearby water bottle.

A blast of water hit Catherine's face. She reeled back, lost her balance, and landed on top of Warrick.

Catherine laughed louder than Warrick did. She was laughing so hard she couldn't stand back up. She finally caught her breath and gasped a giggly apology for landing on him.

Grissom had loosened his grip on Sara, and she rolled over helplessly. Tears of laughter streamed down her face.

Sara layed there on her back next to Grissom in the dirt, clutching her sides as she tried to get her laughter under control. It finally died down to extreme giggling. "Ohh my side hurts now!" she exclaimed. "That was a better reaction than I hoped for!"

Grissom sat up, wiped the laughter tears from his eyes, and struggled to compose himself. "You should have seen the look on your face, Catherine!" His smirk broke into another grin, which led to more snickering.

Sara's giggling ceased enough for her to sit up next to Grissom. She swatted at his knee. "You let her throw water on me!" she accused.

"Hey, I got wet too!" He countered with fresh laughter. "Besides, you brought it on yourself!"

"So?"

That brought more laughter from Nick. "Oooh, I think I'm gonna be sick!" he groaned. "A word of advice—never laugh on a full stomach!"

Sara grinned at Nick as she stood up and dusted herself off. "Serves you right, grabbing my foot like you did." She nudged his leg with the toe of her shoe. "Could've twisted my ankle..."

"Hey, I got a question," Warrick said. "Did you bring that thing with you all the way here, with the sole purpose in mind of scaring Catherine to death?"

Sara shook her head. "No."

"Then what?" Grissom wanted to know. "Surely you didn't just find it in the forest or something."

Sara flashed an amused, but apologetic, grin at Catherine as she sat back down on the log. "Remember when you were picking on me this morning?"

"About the sleeping bag thing?"

"Uh huh. When I left to get changed in the 'modernized outhouse', as you so eloquently put it, I stopped over at that gift shop." Sara turned to Grissom with a twinkle in her eye. "You wouldn't believe how lifelike their rubber bugs are."

Grissom gave Sara an enigmatic grin.

Comprehension dawned in Catherine's eyes as her mind processed this information. Then suddenly she smiled and shook her head in wonder. "You're just so mean."

Sara laughed merrily.

"Your precious Sara is _mean_, Gil!" Catherine emphasized to Grissom.

Grissom laughed too. "Yeah, she is, isn't she?" He sat once more on the log and slipped an arm around Sara's shoulders.

Catherine walked over to where the rubber tarantula had landed. She picked it up and blew the dust off. "Can I keep it?" she asked Sara.

"Sure. You can have it," Sara answered with surprise. "Though I don't know why you'd want it."

Catherine ruffled Sara's hair in a quite childish way. "Cause no matter how mean you are, you're still a lot of fun to be around. This spider symbolizes you."

"Awww," Nick said, grinning at his friends.

Warrick snickered.

"Yeah. Thanks," Sara said, shaking her hair back into place.

Grissom chuckled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Hey, _I_ like spiders," he reminded her. He took a partially smashed Snickers bar out of his shirt pocket and unwrapped it.

Sara patted his cheek affectionately. "And I like chocolate," she said. With her other hand, she grabbed Grissom's wrist so she could bite off a chunk of his candy bar.

Grissom narrowed his eyes at her. "Thief."

Sara gave him a shameless little smile as she chewed and swallowed the stolen chocolate.

"You have chocolate on your face," Grissom said.

And before Sara could react, he leaned forward and kissed the chocolate smudge off her bottom lip.

The chocolate was Grissom's destination, but the kiss was a journey in itself…for it was the longest and tastiest kiss he had ever experienced.

His theory was correct. Sara tasted like cherries. She tasted like chocolate too.

"Mmm. That's good chocolate," he stated with a smile.

Sara just stared at him.

Nick, Warrick and Catherine gaped at them both.

Grissom just grinned to himself and finished off his Snickers bar.

* * *

"Hey, get a room, you two," Nick complained, shifting around uncomfortably in the back seat of Catherine's SUV. He turned his attention to the window, trying to avoid seeing what he really didn't want to see. Grissom and Sara's public display of affection was making him queasy.

Sara was in the middle of the back seat, with Nick on one side and Grissom on the other.

Grissom had one arm around Sara's waist.

Sara was turned around sideways in her seat, facing him. This was no small feat, considering she had a seatbelt to contend with and Nick's bony elbow kept poking her in the back. Sara had one leg folded under her, and the other leg draped over Grissom's knees, simply because there was nowhere else for her to put it while she was sitting sideways.

Sara ignored Nick's elbow and his grumbling. She traced Grissom's bottom lip with her fingertip as she murmured something to him.

Grissom murmured something back to her, capturing her hand in his and pressing a kiss to her fingers.

Catherine looked at Nick through her rear-view mirror. "Don't worry, Nicky. I'll take you home first."

"Thanks, Cath," Nick said gratefully. "Don't get me wrong — I think it's sweet that they're affectionate like that. But they've been playing kissy face for the past two days! There's a limit to how much of that I can handle at a time!"

Catherine bit back a grin as she drove into the Vegas city limits. "Hold your cookies for just ten more minutes, Nicky."

Warrick turned in his seat to look at Nick. He chuckled at the nauseous expression on Nick's face. His grin widened as he watched Sara and Grissom quietly flirt with each other. They were in their own little world.

Warrick turned back to face the road, still grinning. "Glad _I'm_ not sitting back there."

Catherine snickered. "Yeah. Me too. Poor Nicky!"


End file.
